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I think the thread has wandered a little off-topic, but I'll "roll" with it (ouch! pun atemi).

Quote:

Kevin Leavitt wrote:

Your ability to filter out the garbage/emotions and deal with the true FACTS and fully consider them determines IF you can make a good decision.

Notice that I said "GOOD" decision and not the RIGHT one. IMHO, there is no RIGHT decision, only some that are better than others.

I agree. Right and wrong are relative to the individual, and society.

Up till now, the mainstream media has done a class-A job of acting as the press-corps of the Executive branch. Interesting, though: where they find themselves, now. As the prefabrications of the story of Iraq's WoMD become more transparent, the press is finding itself on shaky ground: finding the necessity to report the (watered-down) truth, but nonetheless not ready to confront the President about the discrepancies.

Just Sunday I read how Ari Fleischer stated that Hussein was in material breech for not declaring the missiles, previously. Almost apologetically, the paper stated that Fleischer was wrong, that Hussein DID report the missiles in a December report.

Also, the big Newsweek story about the report of Kamal Hussein verifying the work of the inspectors and saying (in 1995) there were no WoMD presents a huge crack in Bush's case against Hussein. Yet, the story was buried in the middle of the magazine. And, I'll be very surprised if any other mainstream paper follows up on the story.

Sifting through the morass of media to find the truth has been time-consuming, sometimes confusing. Yet, since few of us know firsthand the events in the international arena, it becomes critical for us to sort it out (at least in our own minds) so that we can become informed citizens.

A true democracy cannot work unless a free, unfettered press is allowed to report events with a minimum of spin. The current situation is hardly indicative of an unbiased, free press.

Sometimes, the way to sort the truth is to seek what is left unstated, by either side. At least, this has been my experience.